Nato at crossroads, under threat by founding member

THE North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), which helped win the Cold War and maintain stability in Europe in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet bloc, may be facing now its most important test since its founding in 1949.

Indeed, when the two-day Nato summit opens on Wednesday in Brussels, the main challenge to its continuing existence would not be from any outside threat but from the United States - the nation that has led the Western military alliance for close to seven decades.

Many pundits have blamed US President Donald Trump - who referred to Nato as "obsolete" during his 2016 presidential campaign, and who suggested at the recent G-7 summit that Nato was "as bad as Nafta" - for the growing tensions between Washington and the other 28 members of the transatlantic security alliance, including 10 former Warsaw Pact members and three former Yugoslav republics.